Falling
by Silver Sailor Ganymede
Summary: Her mind is awake and thinking but completely unaware of the nothingness in which she is. She sees only the past flashing in front of her eyes as she remembers her tormented life and her glorious suicide. Oneshot. Fifth in the 'Prophecy' series.


Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. I do own all the OC's in this fic.

**_(A.N: this follows on after 'Silver Millennium, Rui's story', 'Garnet Guardian', 'And with that, she was gone' and'Sailor Moon, Fall of Crystal Tokyo, and so it will only make sense if you read all of those first.)_**

Falling  
By Silver Sailor Ganymede

A blood-tinted darkness surrounds her as she floats within the nothingness that is death. Her blood-coloured eyes stare blankly into the oblivion, open and yet completely unseeing. Her once porcelain-like body is charred and burnt black, her, her hair burnt away leaving only a blackened scalp. She is falling endlessly through the nothingness; nothing can save her; she lost her blackened wings long ago. Only her sun-symbol, which glares infinitely brightly in the abyss, and her beautiful, dead, blood-coloured eyes remain as they were; the rest of her body is broken, as is her mind.

Her mind is awake and thinking but completely unaware of the nothingness in which she is. She sees only the past flashing in front of her eyes as she remembers her tormented _life _and her glorious suicide. She is sorry that she had to leave Amaterasu, Rhea and Tsukiyomi behind to mourn her dead as well as Beryl's, but what else was she to do? She had to die; it was the only way for her to pay penance for her grievous wrong doings. Yes, she knows she has done terrible things, terrible… but what? She cannot remember what caused her to take her own life. No, she cannot remember at all. Every time she tries to remember what she did, her mind refuses to co-operate with her and she faces a block on her memories.

She cannot remember what she did. All she can remember is the awful childhood she had… her dark powers, which caused her to turn to darkness. She can remember her _family_: her father, King Sol's, refusal to acknowledge her existence after her sister's birth. She can remember the looks of pure hatred that her mother, Queen Serenity, always shot her. She can remember her nauseatingly sweet and pretty brat sister, Serenity, who became heir to a throne that was not rightfully hers to ascend to. Serenity… both her mother and sister were called Serenity, when in truth there was no other name less suited to them.

Yes, she can remember all these awful things but she cannot remember herself. She cannot recall the name of the planet to which she was heiress. She cannot recall how she any of these figures of whom she knew the names and faces. She cannot recall why she felt so connected to Nephelina Domatsuki'ah, how she was related to her. And, perhaps very worst of all, she cannot recall her own name. Perhaps she didn't have one, perhaps she just doesn't wish to recall it on a conscious level, she doesn't know which.

Then she stops thinking and lets herself just fall. She puts up no resistance; she stopped that long, long ago, if indeed there ever was a time when she was not falling through the abyss she is in now. Maybe her 'memories' are simply fragments of her imagination; she doesn't know, nor does she care. She keeps falling, just as she has done for as long as she can truly remember.

"Tsuki'ah Selenity!"

She starts at the voice; never in all her time falling has she heard a true voice here. Something inside her, something immensely painful, stirs inside her at the name. She shuts it out again; it is too much pain to bare and she would rather not know if it hurts so much.

"Solarisah Rui!"

The same voice calls, and yet another emotion stirs inside her. Emotion? Yes, emotion: that's what they're called, isn't it? This 'emotion' she feels is far more pleasant than the last; it still stings and wrenches at her heart… but there is another part to it also. She feels almost warm inside, _safe_. What is this emotion that makes her feel so… content?

"Solarisah Rui!"

The voice calls out again. She smiles and realises why she feels so safe. Solarisah Rui… that is her name, isn't it?

"Solarisah… Rui," she repeats the name… _her_ name. Her own voice sounds alien to her: alien and husky as though it has not been used in a long, long time. And perhaps it hasn't, she doesn't know.

"Solarisah Rui," she says it again and the sun-symbol on her forehead begins to glow. Yes, she is Solarisah Rui; that is her name… that is who she is.

Her eyes open to the world around her and she sees the nothingness of the abyss. For the first time she is aware of her surroundings, and they scare her… She does not like them one bit.

"Solarisah Rui."

That voice again. It is alien and yet comforting, and it is louder this time. She gasps as she feels something beneath her, something warm and comforting. She isn't falling now; instead she is still. It feels so alien to her, not falling; she had thought that she would keep falling forever.

"Solarisah Rui."

The voice is even louder this time. She turns her head and sees that she is being held in the arms of a woman who is keeping her from falling. The woman has long, black hair that cascades down past her ankles in a waterfall of liquid night. The woman's eyes are dark gold and look like cat's eyes. There are three, golden crescent moons on her forehead and she had huge, black, raven-like wings.

"Domatsuki'ah Nepherina?" Rui asks quietly.

The woman, Nepherina, nods.

"Why are you here?" Rui asks.

"I am here to help you," Nepherina replies.

"Why?" Rui questions: why is anyone helping her? She has been damned to fall forever, why is anyone intervening with that punishment?

"My dear, had you been a daughter of mine you would never have suffered as you did at my sister's hands," Nepherina smiles. "I am here to make sure that you get another chance of life, a chance to make amends and to fulfil that prophecy that has been written since before the dawn of time as we know it."

"Why do I deserve another chance?"

"What you did was done almost directly as a result of your _dear mother's _foolishness and idiocy. It is no fault of your own, I assure you, and the Guardian has agreed to let you live again.

"You must go, Rui. I am not here to give you the choice; I am here to tell you what you _must _do. You are being sent to a time more than three thousand years in the future. Your _sister's _empire has been destroyed centuries ago; the new ruler of Terra is your friend, Princess Hadesah Setsuna, only she now goes simply by the name of 'Lady Garnet.'"

"Setsuna rules Terra?" Rui is surprised.

Nephelina nods and takes Rui's blackened hand in her own. She whispers an incantation and Rui feels strength as she has never felt it before. She sees her skin healing itself before her very eyes; it is now as white as she knows that it once was. Her long, burgundy/violet/white hair is back, long and flowing. On her back is a pair of black angel wings, just like Nepherina's.

"Come," Nepherina smiles. She takes Rui's hand in her own and they fly upwards, a sensation that Rui is completely unfamiliar with. Yes, they are flying upwards. Upwards towards a new life and a new destiny. She smiles as she realises that she is free of the abyss of nothingness; she is no longer falling.


End file.
